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 During these unprecedented times, Lincoln College
invites family, friends, and the community alike to celebrate May
graduates by viewing a virtual commencement broadcast. The May
ceremony will include a pre-recorded recognition of graduates, with
an invitation to return in May 2021 to walk at an in-person
commencement celebration.
The virtual commencement ceremony will be shown on the Lincoln
College website at lincolncollege.edu, as well as the College’s
Facebook pages, beginning at 12:30 p.m. (CDT), on May 9. As in past
years, the ceremony includes graduates from the Lincoln campus, as
well as from Lincoln College’s Accelerated Bridge to Education (ABE)
program, which includes students from the Normal, Lincoln, Peoria
and Oglesby campuses. Over 38% of the graduates, for a total of 89
students, are eligible for honors lists.
Lincoln College will again feature two honorary doctorate degree
recipients: Byron S. Bagby, Managing Partner of BMB Solutions LLC
and retired U.S. Army Major General, and Bill Gossett, 1943 Lincoln
College Alumnus and community ambassador. A formal ceremony awarding
both recipients their respective honorary doctorate degrees will be
held at a later date.
Featured commencement speaker, General Bagby, has served as
Commandant of Joint Forces Staff College, Chief Operating Officer of
the Office of Military Cooperation in Cairo, Egypt, managing
security cooperation programs, and Chief Operating Officer of the
U.S. Army in Europe, directing all the activities of over 1,000
people in 30 locations and nine countries. Bagby also held duties at
the Pentagon on the Joint Staff and Department of the Army Staff.
General Bagby’s honors include two Army Distinguished Service
medals, the Ranger Tab, the Master Parachutist Badge, the
Westminster College Lifetime Alumni Achievement Award, and Fulton
Public School Hall of Fame inductee. He is also a life member of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
Bagby is a certified True Growth Leadership facilitator and
Authentic Leadership Development Coach through the Chambers Bay
Institute, coaching more than 400 leaders to live a life of
significance.
He is currently serving on the Advisory Board for
Ryan Consulting as Chair, the Board of Directors of Management
Support Technolgy, Inc., and the Board of Trustees for William Woods
College and Columbia Southern University. Bagby previously served as
a Board of Trustee member at Westminster College (MO) from
2012-2017.
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Lincoln College’s second honorary degree recipient and featured
graduate charge speaker, Bill Gossett, is a U.S. Army veteran and retired
business owner. Gossett previously owned two area businesses, Gossett’s Cleaners
and Gossett’s Decorator Studio, until retiring in 2001. Currently, Gossett hosts
the weekly radio show, “View Point” on WLCN in Atlanta.
Gossett has held leadership positions in numerous civic organizations, including
the Abraham Lincoln Hospital Association, American Legion, Knight’s Templar,
Lincoln Rotary, Lincoln Toastmasters Club, Lincoln-Logan Chamber of Commerce,
Masons, Oasis Senior Center, Salvation Army, and the Union Cemetery Association.
He is an active member of Trinity Episcopal Church.
An advocate for education, Gossett has served on the Lincoln
District 27 and West Lincoln-Broadwell school boards as well as the Lincoln
Community High School steering committee. He has volunteered at
Washington-Monroe Elementary and the Logan Correctional Center. Over the past
seven decades, Gossett has been an active and enthusiastic supporter of Lincoln
College, and has served as Board of Trustee member for fifteen years. He was
inducted into the Lincoln College Athletic Hall of Fame as a friend of athletics
in 2017. Gossett was also the recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award.
In addition to the two honorary degree recipients, the student speaker this year
will be Alex Beck, of Normal. Beck is receiving his Bachelor of Business
Administration in Business Management with a concentration in Accounting. He was
the 2019 Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois for Lincoln
College, an annual selection of one top senior from each college or university
in Illinois. Beck was involved in Sigma Beta Delta, Sigma Tau Delta, and Alpha
Sigma Lambda honor societies at Lincoln College. As an Eagle Scout, Beck has
been involved with Boy Scout Troop 920 in Bloomington since 2014 and volunteers
with McLean County’s Emergency Management Association. Beck currently works at
COUNTRY Financial as an Administrative Services Associate Senior and owns BN
Photography.
[Lauren Grenlund
Director of Public Relations
Lincoln College] |
